


Stitched

by Fairleigh



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Anxious Poe Dameron, Feelings Realization, Help Getting Dressed, Hurt Finn (Star Wars), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Poe Dameron, Poe Dameron's Jacket, Sewing, Sharing Clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24114520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairleigh/pseuds/Fairleigh
Summary: Poe sits at an unconscious Finn’s bedside, mending the jacket he gave him.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62
Collections: Hurt Comfort Exchange 2020





	Stitched

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nununununu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nununununu/gifts).



They put Finn in a bacta suit to speed the healing as soon as one becomes available. Time is of the essence, and the evacuation of the Resistance base on D’Qar is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 0600 hours. Then it’ll be all hands on-deck, and every pair (or triplet) of hands available will be called upon. If Finn is awake, they’ll be able to use him.

Poe’s not quite certain how he feels about that. About any of this, really. Only a few days ago — ah, but it already felt like a lifetime ago! — Poe had been strapped to a First Order torture chair and praying that his life be returned to the Force. Kylo Ren had already broken his mind open like a hawkbat egg and taken Poe’s secrets. The only thing left for him to do, or so he’d thought — inasmuch as he was still capable of thought — was die.

But he didn’t die, and that was because a defecting stormtrooper got him off the _Finalizer_ and saved his life. All Finn had wanted was to disappear, to escape a lifetime of indoctrination and abuse and get as far away as possible from anything and anyone First Order. Yet Poe had returned the favor by taking him back to Jakku so that he — Poe — could complete his mission and win General Organa’s often hard-to-obtain approval.

The crash. He thought he’d gotten Finn killed.

But he hadn’t. And not only did Finn definitely _not_ die, he lived to complete Poe’s mission for him. Then he got himself slashed in the back by Kylo Ren for his trouble. When Rey brought Finn back to D’Qar, injured, unconscious, heartbreakingly vulnerable, Poe felt like _he’d_ been the one who’d gotten slashed.

And actually, a part of him _had_ been. After all, he’d let Finn keep his flight jacket.

The flight jacket wasn’t just any jacket. It’d been Poe’s mother’s. She’d worn it flying for the Rebel Alliance in the Battle of Endor, and the jacket was one of the few things he had to remember her by. Thing was, to be honest, he didn’t actually remember her that well; she’d died when Poe was only eight years old.

But Finn had saved the life of Shara’s beloved baby boy and paid a mighty personal price for the privilege. If anyone deserved to wear her jacket, it was Finn.

The med-droids had removed it along with the rest of his clothing when they put him in the bacta suit. However loudly they beeped admonishments at him, though, Poe refused to leave Finn’s bedside. He sat there, mind racing from thought to thought to thought, like lightspeed-skipping, his eyes fixed upon his poor, precious Finn. Waiting for any sign of movement, of consciousness.

There was none.

What there _was_ was a vertical rent down the back of the jacket. He sat with the jacket spread out over his lap. The edges of the rent were charred, he noted — caused by a lightsaber. Kylo Ren’s lightsaber. Poe felt that rent like a tear in his own heart. His mother’s jacket. The man who’d saved his life. The man who’d become his best friend. The man he wanted to become something more.

Yes, that was it; that was what was going down. Flighty flyboy Poe Dameron had settled on someone to love. Ah right, this was why he didn’t normally do love. It was eating him inside! Why did love have to do that?! And the more important unanswered question was, would Finn see fit to love him in return? The rent in the jacket seemed to mock Poe’s romantic aspirations. _Look at how fantastically it’s gone so far, Dameron,_ the rent in the jacket seemed to say.

The past was past; he couldn’t fix it. He couldn’t undo what had been done to Finn. But maybe he could get the future — his future, with Finn — all neatly sewn up. He just needed to sew up the jacket.

Because he refused to leave Finn, he buzzed a med-droid and asked for needle and thread. _I’m not a tailor,_ the med-droid beeped, professional prerogatives offended. _But you are a surgeon. I’ve seen you stitching up lacerations,_ Poe countered. _On me_ , he added, lest the med-droid offer more protests.

And so, here he is, sitting at an unconscious Finn’s bedside, mending the jacket. Stitch by painfully awkward stitch. The idea was probably better in theory than in practice, Poe now realizes, but he’s already committed to this course of action, and he’s not one to back down. He does the best job of it that he can, and while he works he fantasizes about what it’ll be like after Finn awakens: They’ll drain the bacta and send him to the sonics. He’ll come out clean and dry and soft-skinned as a baby. He’ll also be weak, though, muscles rubbery from lack of use, awkward on his feet, and Poe will be there, right there and ready — best buddies, yeah? — to help Finn get dressed.

It’ll be fantastic. And after they’re done? _I think I’m in love you,_ Poe will say. _I think I’m in love with you, too,_ Finn will reply.

Unfortunately, Finn still hasn’t awakened when the evacuation commences. The med-droids tut-tut and say Finn just needs more time. It’s time Poe’s afraid he doesn’t have anymore. When they relocate Finn to the _Raddus_ ’s medbay, Poe kisses him on the forehead and prays it won’t be goodbye for good.

It wasn’t goodbye for good, not for Poe and Finn, at least. For the others, though … too many others …

When Finn wakes up, it’s not exactly how Poe imagined, and the reality isn’t lesser. The reality is, in fact, better — because Poe has to take Finn to his private quarters in order to help him get dressed.

Finn holds his arms up, and Poe pulls the shirt over Finn’s head. Skin brushes skin, seemingly by accident, and Finn stumbles backwards into Poe’s arms. When Poe stands behind Finn and steadies his shoulders while he steps into his trousers, the full-body touch, Poe’s chest to Finn’s restored but still sore spine, makes them both shiver with want. And when Poe gives Finn the jacket, holding it out in front of him for Finn to slip on, turns out he doesn’t have to say anything. Somehow, Finn just _knows_. The pain of the past, the pain of Kylo Ren’s cruelty, both dissipate like the morning mist over the Yavin 4 jungle of Poe’s youth. There is comfort and healing.


End file.
